Saying Goodbye to "Morning Joe"

I have been watching "Morning Joe" on MSNBC for years. But Joe Scarborough has simply "jumped the shark" recently, and I've had enough.

Joe has repeatedly used the presence of U.S. troops in Germany, Japan, and South Korea as reason for keeping troops in Afghanistan. And I do mean repeatedly; this is not an idle, isolated comment. Joe seems unable to understand that there is a clear distinction between the two situations. We are not in the middle of a civil war in Germany, Japan, or South Korea. Afghanistan is a completely different situation from the other countries, and for Joe not to understand that shows his profound stupidity.

My morning viewing will henceforth be limited to CNN.

Some Exchange Slav Games

These games are presented to show the typical play that arises from the Exchange Slav. They are not particularly memorable games otherwise.

chessart(1540)-DreaMLaNdeR(1675), 5,0

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 Nc6 6. e3 Bg4 7. Nc3 a6 8. Be2 e6 9. O-O Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. a3 b5 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Bxf3 Na5 14. Be2 O-O 15. b4 Nc4 16. Bxc4 bxc4 17. Qb1 Rfb8 18. Rc1 Nd7 19. Rc2 Rb7 20. Rb2 Rab8 21. Raa2 f6 22. Na4 e5 23. Nc5 Nxc5 24. bxc5 Qc6 25. Rxb7 Rxb7 26. Rb2 Rb5 27. a4 Rxb2 28. Qxb2 exd4 29. exd4 The first really interesting position in the game. The engine says Qe8, Qe6, and Kf7 are all dead equal. Black's move gives me a one-point edge in the queen and pawn endgame. 29...Qxa4 30. Qb8+ Kf7 31. Qd6 c3 32. Qxd5+ Kg6 33. Qe4+ Kf7 34. Qd5+ Kg6 35. g4 Qd1+ 36. Kh2 c2?? Black overlooks the mate threat. 36...h6 is still equal. 37. Qh5# 1-0

chessart(1589)-jam(1592), 2,10

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 a6 6. e3 Bf5 Black elects to move his queen's bishop out instead of blocking it in, as in the last game. 7. Nc3 e6 8. Bd3Ne5 and Qb3 were more enterprising choices here. Ne4 9. Bxe4 Bxe4 10. Nxe4 dxe4 11. Nd2 f5? 12. O-O Be7 13. Qe2? O-O 14. Rfc1 Nc6 15. a3 h6 16. h3 g5 17. Bh2 Qe8 18. Rc2 Qg6 19. Rac1 Rf7 20. Nc4 Raf8 21. Ne5 Nxe5 22. Bxe5 f4 23. Rc7 f3 24. Qf1 fxg2 25. Qxg2 Rxf2? 26. Qxf2 Rxf2? 27. Kxf2?Missing 27 Rxe7! Position is now dead even. Qf5+ 28. Kg3 Qf3+ 29. Kh2 Qf2+ 30. Kh1 Qxe3 31. Rc8+? It's still even after either Rf1 or R7c3. 31...Kf7 32. R1c7 Qxh3+ 33. Kg1 e3 34. Rh8 Qg4+ 35. Kh2 Qe2+ 36. Kh1 Qf1+ 37. Kh2 e2 38. Bg3 g4 39. Rh7+ Kg6 40. Rhxe7 Qh3+ 41. Kg1 Qxg3+ 42. Kh1 e1=Q# 0-1

chessart(1482)-Shortcastle(1431), 8/6/00, 0,4

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bf4 Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. e3 O-O 9. Bd3 a6 10. O-O b5 11. a3 Bd7 12. b4 Nc6 13. Qd2 Rac8 14. Rfc1 Ne7 15. Rc2 Rc7 16. Rac1 Rfc8 17. Ne5 Ng6 18. Nxg6 fxg6 19. Qe2 Qf8 20. Qd2 Ne8 21. Ne2 Rxc2 22. Rxc2 Nd6 23. Rxc8 Qxc8 24. Qc2? (Nc1) Qxc2 25. Bxc2 Nc4 26. a4 bxa4 27. Nc3 a3 28. Bb3 Bb5 29. Nb1 Kf7 30. Bxc4 Bxc4 31. Nxa3 I get my pawn back and go into the good knight vs. bad bishop ending. 31...Ke7 32. f3?(NxB!) Kd6 33. Kf2 e5? 34. Ke1? exd4 35. exd4 Ke6 36. Kd2? With the bullet time control, there was no time to calculate that I would win the zugzwang battle after 36 NxB dc 37 Kd2 Kd5 38 Kc3. 36...Bb5 37. Kc3 Kf5 38. Kd2 g5 39. Nc2 h5 40. Ne3+ Ke6 41. Kc3 g6 42. Kd2 Bc6 43. Kc3 Bb5 44. Kd2 Bc6 45. Nd1 Kf5 46. Ke3 g4 47. f4 h4 48. g3 h3 49. Nf2 g5 50. Nd3 gxf4+ 51. Nxf4 Bb7 52. Nh5 Kg6 53. Nf4+ Kf5 54. Nd3 Bc6 55. Nc5 Bb5 56. Nb7 Ke6? Allowing my king to infiltrate. 57. Kf4 Bc6? 58. Nc5+ Kd6 59. Kxg4 Bd7+ 60. Nxd7 Kxd7 61. Kxh3 And black soon resigned 1-0

The Exchange Slav

Here is a game played on chessbase today.

1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 cd This avoids the complex play after other moves, and it keep some advantage for white due to having the move in hand. Certainly a good opening to play if you are content to draw.

3...cd 4 Bf4 Moving either knight out is more popular, but this scores better. 4...Nc6 5 e3 e6 This scores poorly for black, per the database.

6 Nc3 Bd6 7 BxB QxB 8 Nf3 Nge7 The third-most popular move here, after Nf6 and a6. 9 Rc1 Usual is Bd3. My move is not in the database, though there is one game in the database by transposition.

9...0-0 10 Bd3 a6 The database game contintued 10...e5, and white won by ganging up on black's isolani at d5.

11 Bxh7+?! Given that my opponent was rated 200 points higher than me, I figured "what the heck". The engine says this give black a big advantage. 11...KxB 12 Ng5+ Kg6 The engine prefers 12...Kh6, -3.1 to -1.6. Bad for black is 12...Kg8. 13 h4 The engine prefers 13 Qg4, -1.6 to -3.3.

13...f6 The engine prefers e5 or Kh6 by half a point. But black still is up by 2 and 1/2. 14 Qd3+ Nf5 15 f4? Black now has a huge 6-point edge. Best is 15 g4. 15...Rh8? Black blunders back. Best is fg.

16 g4 The engine prefers 16 h5! Rxh5 17 RxR KxR 18 g4+ Kg6 (Not 18...Kh6?? 19 Nf7+, forking king and queen) 19 gf+ ef with only a slight edge for black.

16...fg 17 gf+ ef 18 h5+ The engine prefers fg by a point and a half. 18...Kh6 Too timid. The engine much prefers 18...Rxh5. 19 fg+ Kxg5? A huge blunder. 19...Kh7 retains black's 3-point edge.

20 Kf2? (Rg1+) Kh6 21 Rcg1 Be6 22 Rg6+ (Qf1!) Kh7 23 Rhg1 Rhg8 24 Qf1 Raf8 25 Qg2 Rf7?? 26 Ne2?? (We both overlooked 26 Rh6+!! gh 27 QxR#; however, I now have a 3-point edge.) 26...Ne7? (Qd8) 27 Nf4 Qb4 28 NxB (Kf3) Qxb2+ 29 Kf3 QxQ+ 30 R1xQ Kh8 31 R6g5 b5 32 Nf4 Kh7 33 Ng6 Re8 34 NxN? (Ne5!) R7xN 35 Kf2 Rxe6 36 Rxg7+ (engine says now equal) Kh8 37 R2g6 Re2+ 38 Kf3 Rxa2 39 h6 Rh2 40 Ra7 Rh4 41 Rf6 Rxd4 42 R6f7 Rd3+ 43 Kf4 Re4+ 44 Kg5 Rg3+ 45 Kf6! Rh4? 46 Rh7+ Kg8 47 Rhg7+ RxR White time forfeits 0-1 I had a forced mate at the end with 48 Ra8+ Kh7 49 hg.